QRG Capital Management Inc. Has $4.33 Million Position in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE)

QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Ameren Co. (NYSE:AEE) by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 48,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,909 shares during the quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Ameren were worth $4,332,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Ameren by 2.6% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 13,139,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,149,221,000 after acquiring an additional 334,752 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Ameren by 1.9% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 6,672,164 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $581,661,000 after purchasing an additional 127,287 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Ameren by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,561,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $398,992,000 after purchasing an additional 39,300 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Ameren by 59.8% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 2,631,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $230,158,000 after buying an additional 984,879 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec grew its position in shares of Ameren by 26.1% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 2,318,537 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $202,779,000 after buying an additional 479,668 shares during the last quarter. 79.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Ameren

In other news, Director Craig S. Ivey sold 2,716 shares of Ameren stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.27, for a total transaction of $266,901.32. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 14,495 shares in the company, valued at $1,424,423.65. This trade represents a 15.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.36% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on AEE shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Ameren from $86.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays downgraded shares of Ameren from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $88.00 to $95.00 in a research report on Monday, January 27th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Ameren from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Ameren from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $104.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Ameren presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.70.

Ameren Trading Up 2.3 %

NYSE:AEE opened at $101.74 on Friday. Ameren Co. has a 12 month low of $69.39 and a 12 month high of $101.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.66, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.02, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $93.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $89.66.

Ameren (NYSE:AEE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $0.77 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.83 by ($0.06). Ameren had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 10.34%. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.60 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Ameren Co. will post 4.93 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Ameren Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 31st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.71 per share. This is an increase from Ameren’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.67. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $2.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Ameren’s payout ratio is currently 60.63%.

Ameren Profile

Ameren Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a public utility holding company in the United States. The company operates through four segments: Ameren Missouri, Ameren Illinois Electric Distribution, Ameren Illinois Natural Gas, and Ameren Transmission. It engages in the rate-regulated electric generation, transmission, and distribution activities; and rate-regulated natural gas distribution business.